A major decision was taken this week in RAN on the 5G New Radio (NR) workplan. In particular, the group agreed to have an intermediate milestone for the early completion of the Non-standalone (NSA) 5G NR mode for the enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB) use-case. In Non-standalone mode the connection is anchored in LTE while 5G NR carriers are used to boost data-rates and reduce latency.

With the updated workplan, NSA will be finalized by March 2018.

At the same time, the group re-instated its commitment to complete the Standalone (SA) 5G NR mode by September 2018 and put in place a plan to achieve that.